The Nationals announced today they will honor recent Hall of Fame inductee Andre Dawson before their August 10 game against the Marlins, the first notable effort made by the franchise to recognize its former existence as the Montreal Expos.

Dawson, whose plaque in Cooperstown features an Expos hat, now serves as a front office executive with the Marlins; thus the reason for holding the event while Florida is in town.

Since their arrival in the District in 2005, the Nationals have struggled to determine what history to associate themselves with. They have embraced both versions of the Senators — the original club that moved to Minnesota in 1961 and the expansion club that moved to Texas in 1972 — and fly pennants above the scoreboard honoring the 1924 World Series champs and 1933 American League champs. They also have three statues in center field depicting Walter Johnson and Frank Howard of the Senators and Josh Gibson of the Homestead Grays (who split their time in the Negro Leagues between D.C. and Homestead, Pa.).

To date, though, there has been no recognition of the Expos, aside from one listing of franchise records in their media guide that includes Montreal stats from 1969-2004 and Washington stats since 2005.

"To date, though, there has been no recognition of the Expos, aside from one listing of franchise records in their media guide that includes Montreal stats from 1969-2004 and Washington stats since 2005."This plus the ceremony for Dawson is more than enough. The Montreal partisans need to get over it. What does Baltimore do for the memory of the St. Louis Browns? What does Milwaukee do for the memory of the Seattle Pilots? If there's any place the memory of the Expos needs to be maintained, it's in Montreal. If the people of Montreal want the Expos to be remembered by an MLB team, then they need to start agitating for a team like the fans of DC did after we lost the Senators. It did take us 34 years, but maybe Montreal can improve on that.

Ironically, I read that Dawson could not wait to leave Montreal, so much so that he offered his services to the Cubs for a blank check. I am quite sure that his memories of Montreal are tinged by the fact that they offered to decrease his salary instead of giving him a raise. I would love to witness his private thoughts on the upcoming event.

As a longtime Expos fans who grew up in Montreal and now calls Washington home, I'm pleasantly surprised to see the Nats recognizing some Expos history. That said, I acknowledge it could be awkward. The truth is, folks in Montreal have little interest in the Nats, and folks down here seem to have little interest in anything Expos…The only problem with the arguement that Montreal should honor its own baseball history, is that there really aren't too many opportunities or outlets to do so… What should they do with Dawson for example? Invite him to a CFL game and honor him at halftime?Then again, if they invite him to a Canadiens game (as they did in Fall 2005), Youppi could be the emcee…

Sigh…it's really pretty simple. The history of the Washington Nationals is that of the Montreal Expos. The Expos became the Nationals, so anything that happened before moving to Washington is still part of their history. That is fact, and if you think otherwise, you are wrong. There's really no argument.The only argument is if you think the current incarnation of the Expos should recognize their history. I think they should, but new fans of the franchise have some vendetta against the Expos. Hey, if it wasn't for our beloved Expos, there would be no team in DC right now. So, the people of Washington should embrace the Expos all they can.